but an organized effort ought to be done to demand that the usual hatemongers apologize for the relentless attacks leveled at The Bergdahl family without hearing Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s side of the story;

it this horrendous behavior is not check right away and made it very unpalatable, you can bet that it will only become worse and normalized in the future;

at the very least, we owe our service women and men a chance to defend themselves before we condemn them in the media and use them as political fodder;

we can’t let this hate fest become the new normal against those who volunteer to defend this country in public and more clandestine ways;

Correct. The guy who was wronged by the media during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing was Richard Jewell. That poor man and his family went through hell for months — “trial by media” they called it. In fact, I read they’re studying his libel case in law schools now.

I remember it like it was yesterday. The park was filled with people all over the world, It was ridiculously crowded, but everyone there was just happy and singing. I tell you the feeling of love in the air that night was palpable. It was amazing! Just a little over three hours before the bombing happened, I’d been sitting listening to the band playing, on a bench near where Alice Hawthorne was killed. I’d left the park to meet some friends and go to a party at where a bunch of athletes from the African countries were gonna be hanging out. But it took so long to get through the crowd to get to the train station, I was exhausted and changed my mind about partying. I decided to just take the train to my car and go home. What was normally a 15 min walk to the train station, 30 minute train ride, then 20 minute drive home, took 3 hrs. By the time I got to my neighborhood, news on the radio was reporting that an electrical transformer blew at the park. I remember thinking, boy I’m glad I got out of that crowd before that happened and went to bed. Thirty minutes later, the phone rang — it was my parents calling. Relieved to hear me answer, they’d been up watching CNN which by then was reporting it as a bombing and were worried that I was at the park that night. Needlesstosay, I was freaked to learn what had really happened.

Everyone was scared out of their wits, ready to pounce on any shred of info and blame anyone that it pointed to. Mr. Jewell saved many lives that night by alerting police officers about the bag and helping to evacuate the area. Unfortunately, when they couldn’t find the perpetrator quick enough, people turned on him. I remember thinking and saying so much of what they were saying in the media about he supposedly did the deed, It didn’t make sense, given where they say he was most of that night and where the bag was. That place was a sea of humanity all smushed into a small area. I new from the start he was being scape-goated, because they didn’t have a clue who did it. I felt so bad for him. He passed away in 2007. Here’s more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Jewell

I remember when they re-opened the park on the last day of the Olympics. I was a little scared, but went anyway to show solidarity with the thousands of others who wanted to show the terrorist(s) they didn’t defeat us.

The creep who did it, Eric Rudolph, blew up a women’s health clinic near where I worked early the following year. That thing was so powerful it took out the power in our building a mile away from the clinic. He also injured several people when he blew up a gay bar not long after that. I’m so glad he’s rotting in jail the rest of his life.

Thanks Dudette for writing this. It was hard to remember what all happened. Now I remember much of what you said, but not the harrowing personal story. It was for those who were there. I needed that info. I’m so glad his lawsuit was successful. I didn’t know he had died. Probably not reported nationwide very well.

I think the petition should be directed at the mainstream media, Republican members of Congress, and the Republican party! The White House is not the one conducting a “hate-fest” against the POW, Sgt. Bowie Bergdahl, and his family

Audra McDonald just won a Tony for her role as Billie Holiday. In her acceptance speech she mentioned the women whose shoulders she stand upon: Maya Angelou was one of them. If you missed it, check it out tomorrow on Youtube or other places.

This may be wrong of me to say, but this madness began with John McCain and Sarah Palin, amplified by Fox “News” and the Republican Party – all a bunch of irresponsible fools, igniting flames they can’t control.

I was lucky enough to see her on Broadway a few weeks ago. In a word…PHENOMENAL !!
Audra as Billy Holiday is pure Genius. There should not be so much talent tied up in one person 🙂
Anyone who has the opportunity to see this play, grab it. Audra is indeed “The First Lady of the Stage”.
Congratulations to a great performer…Tony#6.

J4O….I saw her perform one song from the show when she was promoting it one night on Colbert and right away
I said to my husband we have to get tickets to see this. And we did . And I can’t stop raving about it.
She so deserves this award.

She sure does. She said she studied Billie Holiday for a year and a half and she put gin above her lip and behind her ears, listened to her every night before bed each night and wore her favorite perfume.

The singer and actress on Sunday won her sixth Tony for portraying Billie Holiday in “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill,” putting her ahead of five-time winners Angela Lansbury and the late Julie Harris for the most competitive wins by an actress.

The latest win — for best lead actress in a play — also makes McDonald the first grand-slam performance winner. She previously won as best featured actress in a play (“A Raisin in the Sun” and “Master Class”), best lead actress in a musical (“The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess”) and best featured actress in a musical (“Ragtime” and “Carousel”). She also has two Grammys.

The Air Force has further beefed up its bomber presence in Europe, deploying two B-2 stealth bombers for military exercises in the region.

The B-2 deployment is another show of Washington’s effort to reassure allies in the region amid Russia’s recent bluster. The aircraft are assigned to the 509th Bomb Wing out of Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. On Sunday, they joined three B-52 Stratofortress aircraft already deployed to RAF Fairford, a British air base west of London.?

“A day after the People’s Liberation Army stormed into central Beijing on June 4, 1989 and retook Tiananmen Square from protesters who had occupied the vast plaza for much of the previous six weeks, I stood outside the Beijing Hotel just east of the Square. A frightening pall had settled over Beijing, broken almost hourly by cacophonous volleys from soldiers’ automatic weapons, often aimed at the crowds of onlookers.

People would scatter, but some were hit and quickly carted away by flatbed tricycles. Inevitably, the pressing internal Chinese drive of kan renao, or checking out what is going on, would overcome them and they would return to gawk at the soldiers and hardware that had rolled through their city.

At one point, tank engines could be heard approaching from the Square. Gunfire emanated again, and people fled away from the boulevard. I saw people running and tanks approaching. I lifted my camera, took one photo and scampered away myself.

Only months later did I discover that I had captured an alternate view of one of the most dramatic moments of those weeks: the man with the shopping bags who stopped a line of tanks, which many saw as standing up to dictatorial rule. He came to be called the “Tank Man.””

RICHMOND — Republicans appear to have outmaneuvered Gov. Terry McAuliffe in a state budget standoff by persuading a Democratic senator to resign his seat, at least temporarily giving the GOP control of the chamber and possibly dooming the governor’s push to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

Sen. Phillip P. Puckett (D-Russell) will announce his resignation Monday, effective immediately, paving the way to appoint his daughter to a judgeship and Puckett to the job of deputy director of the state tobacco commission, three people familiar with the plan said Sunday. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.

The news prompted outrage among Democrats — and accusations that Republicans were trying to buy the Senate with job offers in order to thwart McAuliffe’s proposal to expand health coverage to 400,000 low-income Virginians.

Del. Scott A. Surovell (D-Fairfax) said Republicans were unable to win the policy argument about Medicaid expansion, so they have resorted to other means.

“It’s astounding to me. The House Republican caucus will do anything and everything to prevent low-income Virginians from getting health care. . . . They figure the only way they could win was to give a job to a state senator,” Surovell said. “At least they can’t offer Terry McAuliffe a job. I hope Terry continues to stand up to these bullies.”

Puckett, a senator since 1998, did not respond to calls seeking comment. Other Republicans denied that Puckett was offered the jobs in exchange for his resignation.

Jovie, I think a lot of folk in VA are going to be sure that that does not happen. Blocking expansion of Medicaid in that State is the absolute stupidest thing for Republicans to do. @OFA_VA will be a force in the months leading to victory on 4 Nov 2014.

Their dishonesty is so blatant and so never-ending, it’s almost like we should all be covered by some kind of anti-Republican insurance policy or something. They’re like the red slime somebody throws at you from a moving train, and you don’t see it coming. I could go on, but you know what I mean! We must vote every last one of them OUT!

Oh, yeah, we’re reminded yet again of what Romney was doing during the Vietnam War. Proceed, governor. Open your stupid mouth one more time, about what you’d do (in your nightmares) as Commander in Chief.

As a hero and decorated Vietnam war vet, we should listen to what Romney have to say about the VA scandal. pic.twitter.com/SREQGCa9zE

Wooooot! Atlanta was representin’ at the Tony Awards! Congrats to Kenny Leon! I like what he said about hoping for kids to have theatre in their educational lives. Sure wish Denzel could’ve have been there with the rest of the cast.

Congratulations to Atlanta’s own Kenny Leon (@iamkennyleon) for winning the Tony Award for directing “A Raisin in the Sun.”